title: [Determinants of direct cost in schizophrenia patients with persistent positive symptoms].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze direct costs and cost determinants in psychotic patients with persistent positive symptoms (PPS).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 330 patients with PPS were recruited via 6 university clinics and interviewed about service utilization in the previous 3 months. After monetary valuation, costs were analyzed via generalized linear mixed models with gamma distribution and log-link function to identify determinants of direct costs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean costs were 7,065 € and resulted predominantly from psychiatric hospital care (63 %), assisted living (17 %) and complementary services (8 %). We found statistically significant associations between direct costs and an increasing score of the negative subscale of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (+ 2,484 € per point, p < 0.001) and experiencing less than one social contact per week (- 2,272 €, p = 0.003).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PPS incurred substantial direct costs which primarily resulted from hospital treatment, and were strongly associated with symptom severity.
authors.affiliation: Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Konnopka
authors.affiliation: Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf.
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Stuhldreher
authors.affiliation: Universitätsklinikum Tübingen.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Klingberg
authors.affiliation: Universitätsklinikum Tübingen.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wittorf
authors.affiliation: Universitätsklinikum Köln.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bechdolf
authors.affiliation: Universitätsklinikum Duisburg-Essen.
authors.forename: Bernhard W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Bergische Universität Wuppertal.
authors.forename: Gudrun
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sartory
authors.affiliation: Universitätsklinikum Bonn.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.affiliation: Universitätsklinikum Frankfurt.
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wiedemann
authors.affiliation: Universitätsklinikum Düsseldorf.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wölwer
authors.affiliation: Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf.
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Heinrich
authors.affiliation: Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf.
authors.forename: Hans-Helmut
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: König
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy / Q000191:economics; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000191:economics*; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000191:economics; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology